Field
Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to enhancements for frequency spectrum sharing.
Background
Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, etc. These wireless networks may be multiple-access networks capable of supporting multiple users by sharing the available network resources. Examples of such multiple-access networks include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) networks, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) networks, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, and Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks.
A wireless communication network may include a number of network entities, such as base stations, that can support communication for a number of mobile stations, entities, or devices, such as, for example, user equipments (UEs) or access terminals (ATs). A mobile station may communicate with a base station via a downlink and uplink. The downlink (or forward link) refers to the communication link from the base station to the UE, and the uplink (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from the UE to the base station.
The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) represents a major advance in cellular technology as an evolution of Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). The LTE physical layer (PHY) provides a highly efficient way to convey both data and control information between base stations, such as evolved Node Bs (eNBs), and mobile entities, such as UEs.
The wireless communication networks may communicate over licensed frequency bands of a radio frequency spectrum. However, some of the frequency bands may be underutilized by the incumbent primary licensee, primary user or primary operator. Thus, these underutilized bands may be made available to secondary operators, e.g., cellular operators, so long as the there is no harmful interference with the use of the bands by the primary operators. In this context, there is a need for enhancements to spectrum sharing that allow the secondary operators to access a frequency band of a primary operator without interfering with the primary operator's use of the band, while ensuring service continuity for devices of the secondary operators.